'Disproportionate' in What Moral Universe?  —  What other country, when attacked in an unprovoked aggression across a recognized international frontier, is then put on a countdown clock by the world, given a limited time window in which to fight back, regardless of whether it has restored its own security?

Pander and Run  —  After years of struggling to define their own approach to post-Sept. 11 foreign policy, Democrats seem finally to have hit on one.  It's called pandering.  In those rare cases when George W. Bush shows genuine sensitivity to America's allies and propounds a broader …

Detainee Abuse Charges Feared  —  An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Execution of a teenage girl  —  A television documentary team has pieced together details surrounding the case of a 16-year-old girl, executed two years ago in Iran.  —  On 15 August, 2004, Atefah Sahaaleh was hanged in a public square in the Iranian city of Neka.

Congress to Adopt Scaled-Down Rules on Lobbying  —  Unable to agree on major lobbying and ethics legislation, Senate and House leaders have made plans to adopt vastly scaled-back versions of the measures as part of their rules so that lawmakers can claim that they responded to recent congressional scandals.

Bin Laden's "Brothers"  —  The conventional wisdom is that Hezbollah and al Qaeda are rivals, not partners.  The conventional wisdom is wrong.  —  THE LATEST ZAWAHIRI TAPE, his tenth in the last year, will leave some al Qaeda watchers perplexed.  In it, Zawahiri refers to his "brothers" …

Las Vegas Makes It Illegal to Feed Homeless in Parks  —  LAS VEGAS, July 21 — Gail Sacco pulled green grapes, bread, lunch meat and, of course in this blazing heat, bottles of water from a cardboard box.  A dozen homeless people rose from shady spots in the surrounding city park and snatched the handouts from her.

Sheehan buys plot in Crawford with son's insurance money  —  CRAWFORD — As President Bush prepares to spend some vacation time at his ranch here, not all is peaceful within the peace movement that has doggedly criticized his war policies for the past year.  —  The Gold Star Families for Peace …

Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm  —  Company's Clients Say They Get Access to Va. Republican  —  Two months before Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) became chairman of the powerful House Government Reform Committee in January 2003, one of his close friends formed ICG Government …

Republicans Near a Vote to Increase U.S. Wage  —  WASHINGTON, July 27 — Under intense pressure from their moderate wing, House Republican leaders moved on Thursday toward allowing a vote Friday on an increase in the minimum wage before sending anxious lawmakers home for a month of campaigning in the battle for control of Congress.